We Are Welcoming
Everyone Back
We are welcoming our entire congregation back to church. We have been supporting live Sunday morning services for several months now. Each week, we are welcoming more and more worshippers back to our 10:30 AM service in our sanctuary. To date, our in-person experience has been quite good, and no worshipper has yet tested positive for COVID. Our efforts to conduct safe services have so far been blessed by God.
Based upon that experience, we have restarted our 8 AM service in Crichton Fellowship Hall, followed by the Gleaners Adult Sunday School class at 9 AM.
We continue to follow the extensive safety guidelines set forth by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Social distancing has been strictly observed, with seating on an “every other pew” basis. All persons entering the sanctuary are required to wear a mask and to submit to a temperature check. Congregational singing is still not permitted as we attempt to limit spray from one person to another. However, we do provide praise song videos during the services so that people can appreciate the music as well as the latest news, prayers and messages.
We welcome and encourage all those you feel confident in participating in worship during this continuing pandemic. We hope to welcome many long-time and new congregants during the Sundays ahead.
If you still don’t feel confident is these days of pandemic, we are currently Live Streaming our 10:30 AM Sunday worship service every week. You can see worship as it is actually happening by connecting to our YouTube Channel "RUMC Live".
Our “Virtual Church” Continues
We continue to gather virtually using the ZOOM application on our computers or smart phones. We are using ZOOM to conduct many of our scheduled leadership meetings, and a weekly Wednesday Evening Bible Study on Wednesday at 6:30 PM.
On the website, as always, you will also see a link that will allow you to send in your tithes and offerings electronically; if you prefer to send your tithes and offerings by mail, please send them to:
Riverview First United Methodist Church
8002 U. S. Highway 301 South
Riverview, FL 33578
Remember–God loves you, and so do we!
Pastor Louis Telcy
Care Committee
Worship Committee
Online Giving at RUMC
Giving online is easy and allows you to set up automatic recurring contributions and view your complete online giving history from anywhere you have access to the Internet. Or you can enter one-time contributions from the internet or by smart phone.
To get started, simply follow these easy steps:
- Click on the Online Giving button below. This will take you to our church’s online giving webpage.
- Click on our Create Profile button on that webpage.
- Follow the onscreen instructions to create an online profile and to schedule your recurring or one-time contributions.
Rev. Louis Telcy, Pastor
Here at RUMC, it is our mission to win people to Jesus Christ; to train believers to become growing disciples; and, to send disciples to impact our community and world for Jesus Christ.
Early Service, Sunday 8:00 AM, Fellowship Hall
Regular Service, Sunday 10:30 AM, Sanctuary
8002 U. S. Highway 301 South, Riverview, FL 33578 813-677-5995
Download the January, 2021
Bell Newsletter from this link.
Bible Passage of the Week
God’s Many Blessings
Bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven. God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s presence before the creation of the world. God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. This was according to his goodwill and plan and to honor his glorious grace that he has given to us freely through the Son whom he loves. We have been ransomed through his Son’s blood, and we have forgiveness for our failures based on his overflowing grace, which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding. God revealed his hidden design to us, which is according to his goodwill and the plan that he intended to accomplish through his Son. This is what God planned for the climax of all times: to bring all things together in Christ, the things in heaven along with the things on earth. We have also received an inheritance in Christ. We were destined by the plan of God, who accomplishes everything according to his design. We are called to be an honor to God’s glory because we were the first to hope in Christ. You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ. The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14 (CEB)
Welcome to 2021!
Welcome to a New Year! Our prayer is that the new year will be better for everyone than 2020 was. We are looking forward to getting our COVID-19 immunizations, eating in restaurants, shopping in stores without face masks, traveling around the country, visiting with families and friends, and seeing everyone back in church again real soon!
RUMC, like much of Florida, has suffered economically as the result of the pandemic. Sunday church attendance has been generally under 30 people each Sunday, and many of our members have abandoned us both in spirit and financially. We have kept our heads above water only because of a Payroll Protection Loan from the Small Business Administration, and an Equitable Contribution Grant from the Florida Conference. We were unable to renew our Conference Grant in the new year, but we hope to get another boost from the Federal Government.
Did you know that Riverview First United Methodist Church was the first Methodist congregation in all of Hillsborough County, and that 2021 marks the 175th year that our church has been operating in one Riverview location or another? We look forward to continuing to serve our community’s spiritual needs through worship, bible study, and small groups both at the church and in the surrounding community. And we are happy to serve our communities food needs through our partnerships with the US Department of Agriculture, ECHO, Metropolitan Ministries, Feeding Tampa Bay, South Shore United Methodist Church, the Rice Creek Mobile Home Park, and other supporters too numerous to mention.
We will be initiating a Stewardship Campaign over the course of the next few Sundays. We hope you can attend our 10:30 AM Sunday service in person, or that you can Livestream the services at this site. Lay speakers will identify our future needs, our plans for the future, and what being an active member of RUMC means to us.
As part of our campaign, we are distributing a Time and Talent Survey. As things begin to return to normal again, we are hoping that many will step up and rejoin our efforts in the community. The survey asks everyone two questions: How do you think you can help our evangelistic effort? And what should we be doing that we are not doing now? You will find the survey in the church bulletin, or at this link. Please complete the survey and return it to the church office.
If you are like many of us, the worship of our God is an important and regular part of your life. RUMC wants to be here for you both today and in the future. We hope to see you again soon in 2021.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Next Sunday, January 31st, is the Fifth Sunday in January. This is yet another “Noisy Offering” opportunity, as we donate our loose change to the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home. In 2020, we were able to transfer almost $2,200 to the Children’s Home thanks to your generous support.
Meetings and Events Ahead:
Feb. 2 – Trustees Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM
Feb. 9 – Finance Committee Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM
Feb. 17 – Lifetime Screening in Fellowship Hall
Feb. 17 – Ash Wednesday Service, Sanctuary, 6:30 PM
